The Quick

by Laura Spinney

Patient DL lies motionless in a small room at the end of a hospital corridor. She has suffered massive damage to her brain, and it's not clear whether she can see or hear the world around her.

When Sarah Newman, the narrator of this ghostly tale, is charged with finding a spark of light in her lifeless body, she is drawn into a drama that extends far beyond the hospital walls. What accidental befell DL to cause her such massive brain damage? Why does her family behave in such unsettling and perplexing ways? why is DL's husband visiting the patient after hours, in the dead of night? And what is troubling the narrator herself, who seems to carry a burden from her past?

As the tension build and the strange case of Patient DL becomes known to the outside world, Sarah Newman finds herself at the heart of a personal and ethical dilemma. The Quick is the thrilling account of an obsession, charged throughout with a sense of mystery of consciousness. It heralds the arrival of a major new talent.

Genres: Fiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Mandy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different from anything I have read before and it is not a happy book. Patient DL is trapped inside their body and a professor and young doctor conduct experiments on a computer to see if she is still aware. We read from the doctors point of view so we only know what she’s knows,we don’t find out how Diane ended up like this or why her parents act the way they do. I felt sorry for Diane,it’s an awful situation to be in and I found the doctor cold and dismissive at first,same with Mezzanotte. I didn’t know how this was going to end and some of it was sad and some was not. Interesting book.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The start was promising, the summary on the back intriguing. Parallels to the Terri Schaivo case were clear but not mentioned, and it seemed like an interesting inspiration for a mystery. But at about page 112 I was ready to give up because I was still waiting for something to actually happen. The potential of the curious story of how to communicate with the unconscious kept me going to the end, but like other readers I thought the ending was odd and rushed and somewhat unexpected (though not in a good way) I actually flipped the page and went “is that it?” It just stopped like there’s meant to be a sequel or something. It took until page 202 of 223 for anything to actually occur. Then it didn’t finish. Some characters were also not nearly as well developed as they could have been. Lots of potential, weak delivery.

[Helen the Bassist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant start...weird, unsatisfactory (And rushed again) ending. At only 233 pages this is however probably a good book for a book club. There are certainly multiple plot strands to discuss...lots of meaty medical ethics, well drawn characters etc.
Just once in a while I'd like a book with a sensibly paced last chapter or two!

Edit: I've just noticed the two word Book Description: Unusual Book. That says it all really!

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author hooks you immediately. The characters are unusual and compelling. Its nice to have a scientist who is a woman as the protagonist!

[Flyss Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Dark tale of a doctor and her patient a young women with locked in syndrome, who may finally have some hope of communicating with the outside world thanks to a revolutionary new device that can tap into brainwaves. But what will she reveal? The premise was promising enough but in the end there were too many ambiguous and unresolved threads. The style of the story promised a more interesting ending than it delivered.

[Jodie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the concept of this story line, but it was poorly written.